Chapter 82: Song of Youth
According to Qilin's statistics, roughly twenty percent of Huaxia's population carried latent supernatural bloodlines. However, among these people, only about one in ten million could successfully awaken their bloodline and transform from an ordinary person into a supernatural being. Among these, the most commonly awakened bloodline was the werewolf bloodline.
Supernatural bloodlines were either latent or active from birth. For example, the Nine-tailed Fox bloodline of Hu Weijie and Hu Tu'er was exceptionally stable and active from birth, which meant that their descendants invariably inherited its power the moment they were born.
As for people born with latent bloodlines, they were ordinary humans at birth and had to meet specific conditions to awaken their bloodline. The werewolf bloodline was an example of this. The descendants of werewolves were not necessarily werewolves themselves. If they failed to awaken their bloodline by the age of eighteen, they would remain ordinary human for the rest of their lives.
Furthermore, because the awakening rate of the latent werewolf bloodline was low, if several generations in a row were born as ordinary humans, many would have no idea they carried the werewolf bloodline. The main reason werewolves became the race with the highest number of awakenings was that they were incredibly fertile, unlike vampires.
Werewolves could give birth to five or six children in a single pregnancy. Among supernatural races, they were famously fertile. In fact, "werewolves being good at having pups" was so well known that whenever an ordinary human gave birth to triplets or quadruplets, people would often suspect that they carried a werewolf bloodline.
Yu Xian had no idea whether Li Cheng's mother had ever come under that kind of suspicion, but he was one hundred percent certain that one of Li Cheng's ancestors had been a werewolf. Since Li Cheng had always considered himself an ordinary human, that ancestor was probably many generations removed. His parents, grandparents, and perhaps even the generation before them likely had no idea they carried a werewolf bloodline.
***
A few minutes later, Zhang Kai hurried over by car. He spotted the unconscious Li Cheng and grinned. "Would you look at this kid! He's just awakened, and he's already a total unit. How tall was he before this?"
Li Cheng’s chubby classmate answered, "Old Li... Ah, no, Li Cheng was around one meter eighty-five, I think."
Zhang Kai nodded, then turned to Yu Xian. "I’m taking this kid with me. Don’t even think about snatching him from us. Our unit is seriously short on people right now."
There were not many naturally awakened supernatural beings in Silver City. Most supernatural beings came from established lineages. They were either born to parents who were supernatural beings themselves or had masters to guide them, so they had no interest in joining the Combat Police. Only an organization like Qilin could make people like them seriously consider it.
Zhang Kai’s inner abacus was clicking furiously. The Combat Police was desperately short on manpower right now. He wanted to recruit Li Cheng into the unit. Given enough time, Li Cheng would definitely become one of their trump cards.
Although werewolves were not considered a particularly powerful race, they were at least stronger than ordinary members of the Combat Police unit. Most importantly, werewolves could evolve.
A newly awakened werewolf was a Night Wolf. After evolving, they would become Silver Wolves. Above that were the extremely rare Battle Wolves, Demon Wolves, and Wolf Kings. With every evolution, a werewolf’s strength would increase dramatically. As long as Li Cheng could evolve a few times, Silver City's Combat Police unit would absolutely be able to squeeze into the top ten nationwide in overall strength.
Yu Xian smiled and cleanly removed himself from the matter. "Captain Zhang, that isn't up to me. Qilin is responsible for registering supernatural beings, so there’s no way you’ll be able to hide him."
Zhang Kai smiled shamelessly. "I don't care. This kid is mine."
He hoisted Li Cheng onto his shoulder, got into the car, and left. Behind him, Yu Xian shouted helplessly, "Be careful on the road. Don't let him wake up."
Under normal circumstances, when an ordinary human awakened the werewolf bloodline, the surge of power would trigger a twenty-four-hour atavistic period. In simple terms, during this time, they would be ruled by their beastly instincts and turn into a wild beast that attacked and destroyed everything around them.
That was also why Li Cheng had attacked Zhao Kang. At the time, his beastly instincts had already taken over, and he had lost his reason. Only after the surge of power gradually calmed down would Li Cheng slowly regain himself and begin learning to control the supernatural power of a werewolf.
Yu Xian was not sure how long his chop to the neck would keep Li Cheng unconscious. If Li Cheng happened to wake up while Zhang Kai was driving back, things would get interesting.
After Zhang Kai had driven away, Nora quietly asked, "He wants to recruit a werewolf, but can he even afford to support one?"
Yu Xian chuckled. "Brother Zhang definitely can't afford it. If he really manages to recruit Li Cheng, he’ll probably be crying poor every day."
A werewolf’s first evolution was extremely expensive. For a Night Wolf to evolve into a Silver Wolf, it needed to consume a large amount of silver. A Silver Wolf's silver fur contained actual silver, which made it highly effective against vampires.
However, because vampires had driven the price of silver to an absurd height, it cost a werewolf an enormous amount of money to evolve into a Silver Wolf. That was why werewolves hated vampires so much. If they ever had a chance to screw over a vampire, most werewolves would not turn it down.
Yu Xian and Nora stayed in the restaurant a little longer. Only after Zhao Kang and the others paid their bill did they settle theirs and leave.
***
The bright moon hung high in the sky, and the river of stars shone brilliantly. After the rain, the sky looked as though it had been washed clean, its radiant glow draping the ground in a layer of warm silver gauze, gentle and serene.
Yu Xian and Nora walked very slowly, but in the end, they still arrived at the front door of Nora’s home. The two looked at each other and smiled. Nora said, "I’m going in. Be careful on your way back."
Yu Xian smiled and nodded. "Mm. Go on. Get some sleep early."
He watched her step inside. Only after that did he turn around and take a step forward. In an instant, he teleported back to his villa.
After a shower, he sat in a chair on the balcony and took out his phone to open his photo album. Along the way, he had secretly taken quite a few photos of Nora. The last one was especially cute. Nora had noticed him just as he was taking the photo, and the way she blushed was simply too adorable.
He looked at the photo with a smile. A while later, he let out a long sigh, placed the phone on his lap, and looked up at the sky in silence. When Nora had mentioned her mother, the longing in her eyes had deeply touched him. He also had family he missed, but he would never be able to see them again. That was why he wanted so badly to help Nora, to let mother and daughter reunite.
Suddenly, a powerful impulse rose in his heart. However, deep down, he hesitated. He was afraid and even felt uneasy because of that impulse. It felt as though he were a sailor about to set out on his first voyage, standing before the boundless ocean, filled with both anticipation and fear.
Yu Xian had no idea what he would encounter on the journey from Silver City to Ice City. The wilderness hid far too many dangers. Even ordinary humans knew how dangerous it could be. Yu Xian had no guide and no experience, only a young man’s burning passion and a little bit of impulse. There were countless reasons not to go, but he wanted to.
Yu Xian’s gaze gradually grew firm. He took a deep breath, and a bubble covered him. In the blink of an eye, he had teleported outside the city. He sat inside the bubble, controlling it as it flew toward Ice City. At the same time, he opened Qilin’s navigation app on his phone and used satellite positioning to make sure he was flying in the right direction.
The night was long, and the road stretched far ahead. For the first time, the young man set out alone on a journey filled with the unknown.